Weighting means for the drafting



July 15, 1952 NQGUERA 2,602,966

WEIGHTING MEANS FOR THE DRAFTING ROLLERS IN PREPARATORY AND SPINNINGMACHINES Filed Au. 2, 1950 1 mrmro e Jase/w Nasal-e4 Patented July 15,1952 WEIGHTING MEANS FOR THE DRAFTING ROLLERS IN PREPARA'IFORY AND SPIN-NING MACHINES Joseph Noguera, Salf ord, Manchester, England ApplicationAugust 2, 1950, Serial No. 177,194' In Great Britain ctoberj 21, 1949This invention relates to weighting means for the drafting rollers inpreparatory and spinning machines, the weighting means being of the kindin which the reassertive force of a coil spring under compression isarranged to exert a downward pull on a saddle assembly bearing on thetop roller or rollers of the roller pairs. Weighting means of this kindhave already been proposed in which the spring .is arranged to bear on aplungerm'ember within a. casing, which latter may be held against axialdisplacement relatively to the machine, the plunger member beingconnected to a weight transmitting member which extends axially throughthe spring and casing for connection with a weighting hook or othermember of the saddle assembly at the 'end remote from the plunger. Theweight transmitting member is generally guided at a point or pointsbetween the plunger member. and the end connected to the weighting hookor other member of the saddle assembly so as substantially to preventits lateral displacement relatively to the machine.

This known arrangement has been found, however, to suffer from thedisadvantage thatthe spring does not always respond sufficiently quicklyto the small vertical movements of the saddle assembly which occurduring operation, with the result that the weighting pressure on thefibres being drawn is not always sufficiently even and continuous'tomeet the very exacting .requirements of the operation. This slight time"lag in the action or reaction of thegspring' is due mainly to frictionwhich results fromithe comparative rigidity of the arrangement and whichis caused by the spring and/or plunger becoming laterally displaced, orinclined from the vertical, so that one or both of the members, and/orthe'weight transmitting member tends or tend to rub against the casing,guides or other adjacent fixed parts of the machine. f

The present invention is concerned with overcoming the aforementioneddisadvantage.

According to the invention there is provided a spring weighting devicefor .use in weighting means of the kind specified wherein a casingh'aving an open mouth atone endand guide means provided at the opposite endis arranged to contain a coil'spring which bears between the saidopen-mouthed end and ;a plunger member within the casing, and wherein aweight transmittingmember is connected to the plunger member andextends.axiallytherethrough so as to project at each end respectivelythrough-themouth and guide means'of the casing,the' arrangement being 7Claims. (Cl. 19--135)f to Figure l the roller beam section; again being:

2 such that the end of the weight transmitting member which projectsthrough the mouth and is intended for connection to the weighting hookanother member of the saddle assembly is permitted considerable freelateral movement to allow for operational requirements whilst thepossible lateral movement of the opposite endof the said weighttransmitting member is limited by the guide means to an amount which issub-1 stan tially equalto that necessary to permit'the saidfirst-mentioned lateral movement-whereby the plunger member and springsare prevented from making any frictional contact with the sides of saidcasing under normal operating conditions. Due to the-positioning of theguide means below the plunger, the friction between the guide-means andweight transmitting member is extremely small. The lateral thrustexerted by the weight transmitting member against the guide means is, infact, considerably smaller than would result if the guide means werelocated anywhere between the plunger and that end of the weighttransmitting member which is intended for connection to the weightinghook or other'memberof' the saddle assembly. The speed of reaction Ofthespring when it is required to expand or contract due to verticalmovements of the saddle assembly is thus greatly increased andconsiderably'more even and continuous weighting of the rollers than hashitherto been possible with this kind of weighting means is achieved. Ii In order that the invention may be clearly understoodone embodimentthereof will now be described in detail with reference to theaccompanying drawings whereinr 1 Figure 1 is a side elevation showing aspring weighting device according to the invention in position under aroller beam, which latter is in section and partially broken away, thecasing of: the device. being shown in an open position in chain-dottedlines,

Figure 2 is av sectional side elevation taken in a direction at rightangles to Figure 1, the roller beam section being omitted, and Figure'Sis a plan view of the device according omitted. i a

Referring nowto the-drawings, a cylindrical casing l is slit down eachside as at 2 to form two part-cylindrical portions and ispartiallyclosed at the lower end by means of a transverse bridge member 3 formedwith a central guide slot. At the opposite end, the casing I is providedwith an inwardly directed annular rim 4 havin inwardly" extendingprojections 4d at intervals.

coil spring 5 under compression between a plunger member 6, which isadapted normally to rest on the aforesaid bridge member 3, and a bearingplate I. The bearing plate 1 has a central aperture 8 therethroughsurrounded by an upstanding annular boss 9, and is formed with. anannular groove [0 in the upper surface around the boss 9, in whichgroove the downturned portions 4b of the rim 4 can engage to hold thesaid two parts of the casing I together as shown in full lines inFigure 1. In this operative position of the hearing plate I the annularboss 9 projects through the adjacent end of the casing and the aperture8 which it surrounds forms an open mouth for the casing.

Extending axially through the mouth 8, the spring 5, the plunger 6 andth aforesaid slot in the bridge member 3 is a weight transmitting memberH in the form of a fiat elongated metal strip fixedly connectedapproximately in the middle to the plunger 5 and having a hooked portionHa at one end which projects through the mouth 8 for connection to partof a link or lever system l2 which in turn forms part of the saddleassembly. The opposite end Ilb of the member is plain and projectsthrough the guide slot in the transverse bridge member 3.

In this example the casing l is shown as positioned below a. roller beamI3, the boss 9 on the bearing plate 1 being seated in an aperture [4which is formed to receive it in the beam and through which the hookedend II a of the weight transmitting member H projects. The mouth 8 asdefined by the annular boss in the bearing plate 1 and the aperture l4in the roller beam are of sufiicient size to allow the hooked end I laof the member II considerable free lateral play such as will besufficient to meet operational requirements. The slot in the bridgeportion 3 on the other hand is of such size as to allow very limitedlateral movement of the end Ilb of the weight transmitting member H, thelateral movement between the weight transmitting member and theaforesaid slot being in fact limited to that which is substantiallysufiicient to allow the lateral play between the hooked end Ila of, theweight transmitting member and the outlet mouth 8 of the casing. In thisway, under all normal operational conditions, the plunger 6 and spring 5are prevented from making contact with the side walls of the casing lwhilst the friction between the weight transmitting member H and theguide slot in the member 3 is extremely small due to the fact that theguide is positioned below the plunger. With this .positioning of thesaid guide, the lateral thrust exerted by the weight transmitting memberI l on the edges of the guide slot is, in fact, considerably smallerthan would result if the guide were located anywhere between the plunger6 and the hooked end I la of the weight transmitting membeer and thespeed of reaction of the spring 5 is thereby greatly increased.

I claim:

1. A spring weighting device for the drafting rollers in preparatory andspinning machines comprising a casing having an open mouth at one endand guide means at the opposite end, a plunger arranged loosely withinsaid casing, a

4 coil spring bearing between said plunger and said open-mouthed end ofthe casing and an elongated weight transmitting member secured to saidplunger and extending axially therethrough to project at each endrespectively through the mouth and guide means of the casing, the weighttransmitting end of said member which projects through said casing mouthbeing permitted considerable lateral movement to allow for operationalrequirements whilst the permitted lateral movement of the opposite endof said member is limited by the guide means to an amount substantiallyequal to that necessary to permit said first-mentioned lateral movement,whereby said plunger and spring are held out of frictional contact withthe sides of said casing under normal operating conditions.

2. A spring weighting device as claimed in claim 1 in which said casingis substantially cylindrical and is slit down each side to form twopart-cylindrical portions, the said guide means being constituted by atransverse bridge member which joins said two part-cylindrical portionstogether at one end of the casing and which is formed with a centralguide slot, and the said casing mouth being constituted by a bearingplate having a concentric aperture therein, said plate being shaped toretain said two part-cylindrical portions of the casing together at theend remote from said transverse bridge member.

3. A spring weighting device as claimed in claim 2 in which anupstanding annular boss which projects out of the casing defines saidconcentric aperture in the bearing plate and in which aconcentricannular groove is formed in the upper face of said bearing plate aroundsaid annular boss for the reception of the down-turned inner ends ofinwardly extending projections formed on said part-cylindrical portionsof the casing at the mouth end of the latter.

4. A spring weighting device as claimed in claim 1 in which said weighttransmitting member is in the form of an elongated flat metal stripwhich is fixedly connected approximately in the centre to said plungermember and which has its weight transmitting end in the form of a hook.

'5. In a drafting mechanism including consecutive pairs of draftingrollers, a saddle assembly for'weighting the top rollers of said rollerpairs and a roller beam having an aperture therein, a spring weightingdevice of the kind specified comprising a cylindrical casing having anopen mouth at one end and guide means at the opposite end, means forlocating said casing beneath said roller beam with the casing mouth inalignment with the aperture in said beam, a plunger arranged looselywithin said casing, a coil spring bearing between said plunger and saidopen-mouthed end of said casing, an elongated weight transmitting membersecured to said plunger and extending axially therethrough to project atthe lower end through said guide means and at the upper end through thecasing mouth and said aperture in the roller beam and means forconnecting said upper end of the weight transmitting member to thesaddle assembly, the said upper end of the weight transmitting memberbeing permitted considerable lateral movement within the casing mouthand roller beam aperture to allow for operational requirements whilstthe permitted lateral movement of the opposite end of said member islimited bythe guide means to an amount substantially equal to thatnecessary to permit said firstmentioned lateral movement, whereby saidplunger and spring are prevented from making any frictional contact withthe sides of said casing under normal operating conditions.

6. A spring weighting device as claimed in and guide means at theopposite end, means for locating said casing on said machine with saidopen-mouthed end uppermost and directed towards said drafting rollers, aplunger arranged loosely within said casing, a coil spring bearingbetween said plunger and said open-mouthed end of the casing and anelongated pull rod secured to said plunger and extending axiallytherethrough and through said spring to project at each end respectivelythrough the mouth and 6 guide means of the casing, the upper end of saidmember which projects through said casing mouth being permittedconsiderable lateral movement to allow for operational requirementswhilst the permitted lateral movement of the opposite end of said memberis limited by the guide means to an amount substantially equal to thatnecessary to permit said first-mentioned lateral movement so that saidplunger and spring are held out of frictional contact with the innerwall surface of said casing under normal operating conditions.

JOSEPH NOGUERA.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 570,021 Imler Oct. 27, 1896733,936 Barrett July 21, 1903 2,133,866 Lambert Oct. 18, 1938 2,301,701Hendrickson Nov. 10, 1942 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 228,897Switzerland Dec. 16, 1943

